When I was a college sophomore in Washington, DC I lived a short walk from the National Zoo. On an afternoon when I didn’t have a class (or did) I would take a book, sit on a bench, not read the book, and observe. I didn’t feel great about caging large animals but I found the zoo too fascinating to let those objections prevail. I know now, and maybe it’s a more recent phenomenon, that zoos do very important educational work, help to preserve animal habitats, and contribute to anti-poaching efforts in Africa.
On my first visit I started with the big cats but soon found myself with my fellow apes. On subsequent visits I went straight to the apes. Wow and whoa! It was like looking at a funhouse mirror, with some but not a great deal of distortion.
The monkeys seemed to be high on methamphetamine. Crikie, calm down, will ya! I think of those days when I hear Buddhist descriptions of monkey mind.
The chimps seemed more cerebral and cooperative, with their grooming behavior and the adorable way infants clung to their mothers who seemed able to perform all daily tasks with an infant all over them. Some females seemed eager to display their genitalia and there were chimp males dropping all dignity in their presence. Younger males would do the puffed up displays of middle school boys whether or not there was a red-bummed female present.
The gorillas. Hello, cousins. They would alternate between intently observing me and the few other humans and then try to pretend they were living a normal gorilla life.
It required very little time to recognize the status hierarchy .There was a silverback who just wasn’t having any bullshit. There were a couple of large males who were maybe princes but the big dude was gonna have to croak before one of them got to be king.
On one of my last “just droppin’ bys” the silverback and I established durable eye contact. I began to feel like I was the one in the zoo. I mean, IN the zoo. This may have been the visit where my experience was herbally enhanced but I don’t think that was a major factor. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. The possibilities seemed to be, “I’d like you to come in here for five seconds,” “Hello cuz, what’s up?” Or, “you sap! You think you’re free?”
There may been some projection going on there.
I once saw a chimp fling poo at observers. I don’t think it was a friendly gesture.
I was reminded of my zoo experience when I watched clips of the State of the Union address. An attempted silverback performance by Trump - I visualized my silverback with the “you poor sap” expression looking back at Trump. And I saw hundreds of monkeys and chimps. Trump threw out enough shit to shame an enraged ape. What really locked in the zoo reference was watching Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, dressed in suffragette white to “own the libs,” appear to fling poo across the aisle at the Democrats. I know she wasn’t actually flinging anything but her throwing arm motion was so chimp-like.
Mace is the attention junkie who greeted her newly- elected trans colleague, Sarah McBride (DE-at large), by introducing a resolution to ban “biological males” from using a ladies room anywhere in the Capitol. Mace has recently made some noise about running for governor next year. Former state attorney general James Louis Petigru coined this phrase in 1860 when he opposed South Carolina’s secession from the union: “South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.”
Republicans gave raucous applause when he said “for the first time in modern history more Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction than in the wrong direction,” a preposterous lie about both history and the present moment1 Their enthusiasm for the leader’s lies reminded me of what Ive seen of Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies - except there was more decorum at Nuremberg.
Republicans’ “USA! USA” shouts at the Democrats made me wonder - are they taking their cue from obnoxious hockey fans? I know we haven’t hit bottom yet, but where the hell is their bottom?
Appalling, incredible, embarrassing, disgusting …. these words have been applied so often to Trump and his abject collaborators as to lose all power. This state of the union gathering is well described as a “shitshow,” a term that will soon be used so often it will also lose its energy.
I’m left with this advice I give myself:
When apes throw poo, be agile enough to avoid getting smeared. Keep your clothes and your powder dry. And do not spend time preparing]a lesson on bathroom etiquette. Patience, grasshopper. Methed-up monkeys eventually wear themselves out.
In a rumble in the jungle, the rope-a-dope can be a very effective strategy. (see Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman) in the Joyful Resistance archive).
In the meantime I’m enjoying life and I hope you are too. I’m sending contributions to organizations aiding terrified immigrants and I’m messaging Republican House members in purple districts.
I bought tomato seeds yesterday - - I have big plans for my garden. Spring is coming.
More at Joyful Resistance — jimhannon.substack.com